A Casteless Moon: The Wyld Hunt
by Fallstavia
Summary: Exalted 1e.  Sequel to the House of Bells.  A story of a Lunar crimeboss on the Blessed Isle and how he deals with the Wyld Hunt.  Warning: More profanity, lots of violence.  And some sexual references.
1. Chapter 1

**The 1st day of Resplendent Wood, 425 in the Year of Our Empress**

"As the body dies, the soul lives on. As the soul lived, so it shall live again according to its merits. May the blessings of the Immaculate Dragons be upon this one. Overlook his sins, take pleasure in his merits, and gift him with a better life in accordance with your will."

In the greenery of the graveyard, the Immaculate Monk bowed his head. His flowing white robes billowed in the brilliant sun and he seemed a supernatural force here in this wide open space with its tombs and grave markers. In fact, he was only mortal but it was the fervent wish of everyone in attendance that the Dragons would hear his prayers anyway.

Lying on the sheet of marble, its glossy pink stone warmed by the sunlight, Reposed Thought lay stiff and unmoving. His corpse was elegantly wrapped in sheets, expensive and rare herbs were tucked into the folds of his robes, his grave site was spacious, and he was being treated with great honor by the Monk and his assistants.

Those of his immediate family, his wife, his children, came up one at a time to pay their respects to their beloved husband, grandfather and patriarch of Haulister Household. Many had been awake for several days and nights of vigil over his body. Even in their grief and exhaustion, though, a few spared a thought to the luxury of the funeral, quite beyond the means of even their accomplished and respected elder.

Those same few able to think past that grief also wondered at the small crowd of merchants who lingered on the outskirts, watching the proceedings with as much sobriety as any relative. Reposed Thought's granddaughter, Ella, thought she recognized one of the wealthy travelers but, looking more closely at him, she realized she'd never seen him before. He didn't look like her at all, either, he just had a strangely familiar air about him. Perhaps a distant family relation.

The crowd thinned as people said what they had to say and moved on. The Immaculate Monk presiding smiled benevolently at each, assuring individuals that their respected ancestor would be treated with the utmost care and discretion. Reposed Thought had been a very good man in life so this took a while but at last the graveyard emptied.

Except for the crowd of merchants.

It would have taken a more cunning eye than the patrician family here to realize these men were not what they seemed. Their clothes were a little too uniform and well-made. They wore the appropriate House insignias of trained craftsmen but there was no sign of wear and many of the overcoats looked brand new. All of these things might be explainable except for the wary caution with which they observed every detail of their surroundings. These travelers looked like they were ready for trouble, even at a funeral.

Two of them split off from the others and the rest gave them a respectful berth. A trained observer might have noticed by the way the other merchants stood that one of the two was someone important. Realistically, no one with such skill would ordinarily have bothered.

Nonetheless, Elated Fury doffed his broad-brimmed hat and looked somberly at the body of his son, even as he want to fucking kill the thrice-be-damned All-Seeing Eye agent intruding on this incredibly personal moment with his Charms.

"Reposed Thought," Elated Fury whispered, brushing the cheek of a man whose face he knew better than any other. He looked peaceful and content with his white, lined face and snowy hair. Expensive medicines and even discreetly bought Charms had kept him alive for some time but in the end Reposed Thought had succumbed to his old age. Father, grandfather and with great-grandchildren on the way, he'd died happy and accomplished. But he'd still died.

Elated Fury looked at his son and wept for him, unashamedly, trusting that the spy would keep his distance and that his men would keep him secure from anything else. "No father should ever outlive his children," he choked through his grief. "But you had a good life. I'm proud, son. Rest easy. I don't...know that I believe in that Immaculate shit but I don't know what else to believe. I suppose I believe you're happy, now that you're no longer sick. Don't worry, kid, I'll make sure what you loved stays safe."

Next to him, covered head to toe in her black silk and veils, the Scripture of Crimson Silver thankfully said nothing. He knew her opinions and she knew his. They would argue about this later but she was wise enough to leave him be this once and let him be mortal. What Elated Fury didn't want to admit was that the Scripture was right.

For a man more than a hundred years old, who hadn't aged a day in that time, funerals like this were never going to stop happening.

"Rest, son. I loved you all the days you lived and I'll love you until the day this life finally gives up on me." Elated Fury patted his son's chest, coughed loudly and donned his hat again. With a commanding nod, he walked away, leaving the Immaculate to finish his work of cremating the body.

"We're sorry, boss." "Sorry, boss." "He did well by you, boss." "No shame, he was a good man." The men were worried about him, which was understandable. He'd been awake for days and nights too, keeping his own unseen vigil over his son's corpse. But now it was done.

The quiet chorus of sympathy from his men was welcome. Elated Fury shook hands, embraced a few, and managed to get his composure back. He flashed his famous grin and his men tightened their knuckles as hands found weapons. They knew what that smile meant.

"Now, my son's resting and can't complain about what his old man does anymore. So let's go and teach spies why they shouldn't intrude on a man's private sorrow."

To a mortal's eye, Elated Fury's fist was suddenly in someone's stomach and not by his side anymore. To the secret Dragon-Blooded who was a spy for the All-Seeing Eye, it was probably not entirely unexpected but the man had good enough training to take it like a mortal and keep his cover.

Too bad for him, Elated Fury knew he was an Exalt and hadn't pulled any of his strength.

His men grabbed hold of their fellow 'merchant' as the man's mouth worked, trying to draw in air and failing. Elated Fury locked arms with him, buddy-buddy, and they started walking away from the graveyard. With the assistance of his men, it even looked like the spy was going willingly instead of trying to avoid blacking out from his inability to breathe.

As soon as they were out of sight of the Immaculate, Elated Fury put his arm around the spy's shoulders and hugged him a little. The Dragon-Blood's eyes were wide and he wheezed. He had to know what was coming and it didn't bother Elated Fury in the slightest to make the little shit sweat first.

"Alright, Iselsi Manotan Velest. It's time we had a little talk. Don't look so surprised I know your name, you know mine after all. What the fuck did you think would happen when you went to spy on an Anathema? Or are all the other like me just that fucking stupid? Hope not, it'd make me think less of myself."

"...I'm not...a spy..." Velest gasped.

"Shit, forget the other Anathema, how fucking stupid are you? Do you think I don't know when someone's using Charms to pry on me? Don't you know we're fucking demons, Velest? C'mon, you can tell me. You really thought you were going to get away without me suspecting a thing. So, how long until the Wyld Hunt shows up?"

"...I never called...the Wyld Hunt..."

Elated Fury grinned and his men took a step back.

"Velest, you know the scope of this part of my operations. I've only been showing it to you for the past two months so you'd think you knew the full scale of my businesses. I didn't get this big by being stupid so don't insult my intelligence."

"I've been waiting for you to make your move and you made it last week. Arjuf has been seeing a buildup of Shikari ever since, all under the guise of a Wyld Hunt agent seeing a family member, looking at buying land, taking a brief vacation. Now, I admire your guts, kid. You had to have known I might catch you but you stayed around under the cadre was fully assembled, just on the off-chance you might pick up more intelligence. Good for you."

"I'm not an Iselsi!" Velest insisted, still a bit out of breath. "I'm from Arjuf, you know that. You know my family, my friends, my childhood, you know it all!"

"I know when someone's lying to me, Velest," Elated Fury growled suddenly. The low rumble sounded like a feral wolf and it never failed to frighten people the first time they heard it. "I can smell it on you. Hell, you All-Seeing Eye types are so thick in your own fucking deceit that I doubt it can come off with a bar of soap! But that doesn't matter. See, whether you talked or not, you can't hide your shit-for-blood heritage, Velest."

"My blood?" the secret Dragon-Blooded agent asked, showing only a hint of the real alarm he was feeling. Elated Fury could track the slightest chance in body chemistry and he knew the man was perilously close to making a break for it. That was fine with him. It was pretty obvious the man wasn't going to talk unless Elated Fury did things to him that he didn't want to do.

"You see, you're not the first Iselsi Manotan I've met, kid. Let me think, almost a hundred years ago, wasn't it? Your father was just about to graduate from the House of Bells and he came after me with his bow during the Hunt they do. Yeah, I was the quarry. Almost got me, too, the motherfucker. I still have his last arrow." Elated Fury pulled out the wooden shaft of the student's arrow, faded from rough traveling for a century. "Here, you can give it back to him." He pressed both broken ends into the Dragon-Blooded's hands and chuckled at his shocked expression.

"What are you?" the Agent asked at last.

"I'm a fucking demon, remember?" Elated Fury said, grinning more widely. "A monster, some horrible creature that's going to ravish your mind and eat your soul." He looked the Agent square in the eye. "Shit, I'm messing with you. I don't eat souls." He ruffled the spy's hair. "I'm just going to kill you."

Fast as a shoot of bamboo, the spy sprang backwards, clearing the heads of Elated Fury's men. Just as fast, Elated Fury rose right up after him. Velest's steel knife flashed in the bright sunlight as he jabbed to keep his enemy away. Elated Fury deliberately spread his fingers and slammed his hand through the point of the blade, all the way to the hilt.

They landed, Elated Fury laughing softly and the Dragon-Blooded gasping in terror. The Lunar closed his fingers around the hilt, using his bones to trap the blade in, and then pulled it right out of the man's hand with a flex of muscle. Velest tried to jump back again but this time Elated Fury's foot pinned his, locking him on the ground.

"You animal," the Dragon-Blooded breathed, hate chasing his fear as a spear of vines and thorny wood sprang from his hand.

"I'm not a fucking animal!" Elated Fury roared. As the Dragon-Blooded thrust the weapon forward, Elated Fury's Moonsilver knives were suddenly in his hands. One caught the spear, slipping around it and pulling wide. The other twinkled and then didn't as Elated Fury drove it into the spy's body a fast dozen times.

The Dragon-Blooded's eyes were starting to open in realization of the myriad fatal wounds just opened across his chest when Elated Fury's knife sliced through skin, muscle, bone and took his head clean off.

"You alright, boss?" one of his men asked, as the group moved up beside him. If there'd been a serious threat, every one of them would have died on his behalf, but they knew their employer. Elated Fury was charming and subtle but he liked his action now and then. Besides, none of them could behead someone with a knife, artifact or no.

"Yeah," Elated Fury said, tossing the broken arrow across the spy's body.

"You want us to clean the scene?" asked another.

"Nah. The Wyld Hunt's here for an Anathema. I might as well give the assholes one. It's not as if we didn't know this day would come. Leave the body and the arrow. I'm sure the Venerer Iselsi Manotan Denasi would figure it out anyway. That's fine. I want him to." Elated Fury rubbed his back absently, where a student's arrow had badly wounded a hunted mortal too many years ago. "Motherfucker," he added for emphasis.

"Dangerous game you play, lover." The Scripture of Crimson Silver brushed against his arm, her own wrapping around his and clinging to him much as a child would. That wasn't a child's body he felt, though, nor a child's mind that spoke so boldly.

"You're the one who told me this would happen sooner or later," he reminded her, cleaning his knife on the dead body and sheathing both blades in his forearm-sheathes.

"You are not ready for this." Her voice was crisp, precise like a teacher's would be. "You need another century."

"Well, I don't have one, do I, Scarlet? I suppose I'll have to pray my way out of this one."

The Scripture of Crimson Silver laughed merrily beneath her many veils. "Oh, you're a dead man but you've been courting that for years now. You remember my constraints, lover. I'm not worried about censure but there is not much I can do to aid you without risking an audit."

"Audits, fucking audits," Elated Fury repeated sarcastically. He nodded to his men and they fell in beside him as they headed back to the half-dozen carriages that had brought them out to his distant graveyard. "You'd think you worked in the Thousand Scales."

"I work in an organization far more complicated than that," she snickered. There was nothing of softness in the Scripture's voice, nothing of compassion or consideration. This was why she simply didn't speak if the situation called for something other than her blunt directness.

"I'll be fine, Scarlet. And if I'm not, there's a dozen more like me aren't there, bitch?"

"Not like you," she said, her voice biting, at once complimentary and condescending. She was an infuriating combination of aggression and amusement and the past 40 years had been all the more memorable for it. She accepted his hand, though, as he helped her into the carriage.

Elated Fury picked two to join him, trusting the others to sort out who sat where. He sprawled back in his seat and smiled appreciatively as one of his lieutenants handed him a hefty pouch of opium. He packed his pipe as the horses started forward and puffed on the pleasant poppies, watching the countryside outside of Arjuf.

It had been an ugly day, despite the beautiful weather. It was going to get uglier, probably. He'd weather it like he'd weathered every day. Elated Fury was a survivor and an architect. He didn't die, he outlasted all his opposition and his operations only grew larger year by year, decade by decade.

If the Wyld Hunt wanted a crack at him...well, he had plans that could benefit very nicely from having a horde of crack Dragon-Blooded soldiers after his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**The 12th day of Resplendent Wood, 425 in the Year of Our Empress**.

Elated Fury's pipe had gone cold on the bar table hours ago. He made no motion to refill it though. Right now, this place was surrounded by the Wyld Hunt and he wanted to be at his sharpest when they finally got up the nerve to come in. Unless he died of fucking old age first.

"Twelve Pentacles." The Scripture of Crimson Silver carefully laid her cards down on the table, much to the voiced disgust of his men at the table. Elated Fury grinned with genuine humor, rubbed at the ache in his jaw, and threw his own cards down as his lover pulled her share of the chips toward her.

One might think the Scripture, brutally straightforward as she was, would be terrible at games of chance. Exactly the opposite was true. Her directness didn't mean disclosure. The end result was that she was as imperious and sharp of speech no matter what cards she held, making it impossible for anyone to penetrate her bluff.

"Fuck me if I'm not broke!" One of Elated Fury's lieutenants cursed some more before walking away to cool off. The others laughed, both at the scene and at their fellow man's frustration. At one time or another, everyone lost their temper with her. It never bothered her and Elated Fury valued his men speaking their mind. Just as long as they obeyed.

He didn't worry. They all owed him too much, the only way he risked compromise was by a Charm. And he'd already proved twice he could handle that kind of trickery.

"How's our friends?" Elated Fury asked, tapping his glass for a refill and scratching at his chin. He'd finally downed a bottle of scotch but he'd been working on it all day so no danger there. The rest of his men hadn't touched a drop. They knew better than to risk slow reflexes in a situation like this.

The Wyld Hunt had waited an unusually long time to make their attack. Probably waiting for intelligence from their All-Seeing Eye agent. Too bad the man was dead. Elated Fury fervently hoped they weren't going to back out now. Better to get this over and done with.

"Holding steady," the bartender said, topping off Elated Fury's glass. "Just had another one turn up five minutes ago. I think she's what they were waiting for because there's a couple talking in the next bar."

"They think they're smart," Elated Fury chuckled. "Shit for brains. That's fine. We're ready for them, aren't we, boys?"

"Fuck yeah!" The raucous cheers reverberated across the room.

"Well, while we're waiting, give me the numbers."

"No recent news, boss," one of his lieutenants said. "We're a long ways from the Imperial City, long way even from Lord's Crossing. We probably won't get anything new for another week as long as we're here."

"Fine, fine, so there's not much. How about this place?" Elated Fury's eyes darted to his pipe but he steeled himself against it. "What can we expect?"

"If we're steering away from the slaves...still a lot. Big market for firedust, obviously. Lots of importing and exporting here, access to the whole South, plus the part the of Harborhead trade we don't dominate in the Scarlet Prefecture." Elated Fury bobbed his head at what he already knew but it did him, and them, good to listen to it.

"We don't know a lot about operations down here," admitted another lieutenant. "Yaoinr dominates the local markets and this is one of House Ledaal's prime spots. Our connections with that House aren't too good yet. With the Prefect Ledaal Siran in charge...hey, it's established territory and I'm sure Yaoinr has a nice arrangement in place. It's going to be tough to overturn that."

"Not Ledaal Siran," Elated Fury corrected. "He died last year. We're dealing with Prefect Shorzay Eskaren now. Anyone know anything about him? ...wait, we'll pick this up later. The Wyld Hunt's making their move."

Sure enough, Elated Fury's inhumanly sharp hearing heard stealthy running from outside. They'd been waiting for involved conversation to cover their approach. He'd even courteously left a window open for them to make it easier for him. He hated waiting.

Elated Fury's knifes didn't make the slightest whisper of sound as he unsheathed the perfect blades. The pair had been an incredibly expensive...loss for their legitimate owner. For the Lunar, the first time he'd laid eyes on the weapons, he'd known there was something right about them, something harmonious and meant for him about the slender moonsilver daggers. They'd served him with phenomenal dispatch and precision ever since.

"Go for the troops!" Elated Fury shouted as the doors and windows simultaneously broke in. He was already in motion though, flinging himself over the table, rolling across the wooden surface to catch the top of the next table with his heel. As he fell, the table overturned in his direction. The Dragon-Blooded in green jade was already in flight, her feet bracing for a landing that wasn't there.

She hit the underside of the table, breaking right through it in a confused shower of shattered wood and pottery. Elated Fury flipped himself forward, off his back and all the way into a diving tackle. The Wyld Hunt Harrier batted debris from her face, trying to clear her vision. She just got her eyes open again when Elated Fury was all over her.

She managed half a scream before Elated Fury's knife silenced her.

And then he was up and headed right out the window she'd come through. He wasn't too worried about his men, for the moment. They knew they couldn't take the Dragon-Blooded and they weren't going to try. A couple would even point out the window he'd just gone through, in a moment. The Exalts would be too worried about an Anathema to bother with mortals who'd only slow them down.

Speaking of mortals...Elated Fury burst through the window only to land in a scale's worth of soldiers. He knocked three of them down on impact and he quickly took stock as his leg muscles gathered power for another jump. Far too many to fight if he was going to stay ahead of the Dragon-Blooded.

The soldiers locked shields and raised swords, moving with a flawless precision that spoke of innumerably long hours spent in training. Yeah, not worth it. Elated Fury jumped straight up...and became a bluejay.

An explosion sent him spiraling up into the air from the sudden surge in thermals. Below, the Dragon-Blooded had blown clean through the side of the bar and were even now spilling out to shove the soldiers aside. Elated Fury chirped in laughter at them.

He stopped chirping when one of them, an old friend he hadn't seen since his Exaltation, nocked an arrow and sent it spinning into the sky after him.

"I'm getting very tired of that motherfucker," Elated Fury said, squawking at the Iselsi archer below, though the truth was that this was the first time their paths had crossed since the House of Bells. One way or another, the contest would be different this time.

Elated Fury flew for all he was worth as the Dragon-Blooded vaulted onto the rooftops and began springing across the buildings after him with ridiculous ease. He flew a minute toward one of his hideouts, then abruptly changed course, narrowly avoiding another arrow. The Dragon-Blooded below paused for a fraction of a second before pursuing.

Yeah, that's right, fuckers. That's what relying on too much intelligence got you. He wasn't going where he was supposed to go, was he? Right now, they'd be wondering how good their shitty spy reports were. Perfect.

Another arrow almost took a wing off. The skies were getting dangerous and he could see more pulling their bows out. Time to take this to the ground.

Elated Fury dived for the alley below, throwing himself into a corkscrew to avoid two daiklaves that hissed with fire and crashing waves respectively. Then he was below the two Dragon-Blooded above...and he was a wolf on the streets.

His breath ran steady and his heart bounded in giddy exhilaration. Sprinting through the streets on all fours with an army after him was more fun than he'd had...well, since the House of Bells. There was something about being hunted that added a distinct, undeniable spice. It was also nice to finally be back in his wolf shape, the one animal form he actually liked.

You might not know it to look at him but Elated Fury was a man. He had a man's heart, a man's head and a man's sensibilities. People could call him a demon, they could call him a fool but calling him an animal just pissed him off and that usually meant fucking someone up until they couldn't walk. Though he'd never admit it, there was something too tempting about the shape of another creature, a desire he didn't like to be free and leave all rational thoughts behind.

Elated Fury was a creature of instinct but he wasn't stupid. Becoming a thoughtless beast was an invitation to suicide. Besides, he had his operations to protect, his men to see to. Those things and those people were his and he wasn't going to give them up for an animal's life.

"Flank him!" cried the Iselsi archer behind him. Not a good sign. If he was in a position to yell that, it suggested he had forces able to do it. Oh well, time to get more cover.

Elated Fury reached the central market district, beyond which lay the warehouses that were his destination. Yes, through the crowds were the soldiers and, on the rooftops, the flanking Dragon-Blooded. They had one big handicap, though. He was small, agile and able to run right through the crowd. The only way they could get a good shot at him right now was to shoot through dozens of people. Thankfully, the Shikari weren't willing to do that yet.

Panting like a dog, Elated Fury bounded on all fours between legs, carts and stands. His eyes raced, tracking people and objects to keep his sprinting body from hitting something he couldn't afford to hit. Rich smells mingled with hundreds of scents from the crowd. And far ahead...yes, another Iselsi. This was beginning to piss him off.

People began screaming as the Wyld Hunt plowed through their ranks. The cadre wasn't trying to hurt people but they weren't going out of their way to avoid it either and rows of peasants fell down as fast as carts overturned. Elated Fury couldn't see it but he could hear it and it spurred him on.

Finally, he burst out of the crowd. He threw himself up and back onto two legs, becoming Elated Fury again, as his inertia took him headlong toward the Immaculate Monk blocking his path. The Fire-Aspect's Anima burned like a whole dockyard was on fire and no one was stupid enough to get near him. Well, except for himself obviously. Time for just one knife, he thought, as his left hand slammed the other through a belt loop.

He didn't slow down.

Elated Fury gritted his teeth as his speed took him right into the fire. The Dragon-Blooded wielded two glittery red jade swords that flowed like the fire he was. It was very pretty in a "Oh shit, he's trying to kill me!" sort of way.

"Die Anathema!" the Fire Aspect bellowed, flourishing both blades and bring them about in a dual horizontal slash. Was he trying to take his head off like that? Fucking showoff.

Then Elated Fury remembered the tightly packed small sack of firedust at his waist! But it was too late, he was already inside the Anima. He'd better finish this fast or there wouldn't be anything left of either of them.

Elated Fury's left hand, free of the blade in it, stretched like a length of rope to knock the Dragon-Blooded's right sword arm wide. His other moonsilver knife shot up to stop the second sword. With his Charm-enhanced arm, he couldn't do much more than foil his attack by with a push...but he could suddenly pull as hard as his arm would allow.

Unbalanced, the Monk staggered forward as Elated Fury's full-out sprint took him right into the man. Not having a hand free, he kicked up. His boot caught the Monk in the throat. With a combination of his momentum and a firm pull with the ensnared arm, Elated Fury broke the Monk's neck.

Just like that, he was by the dying flames and still running. He'd killed an Immaculate Martial Artist in a single fucking move! A painful thud in his back killed the thrill. Yeah, he'd just done the impossible and they had to go shoot him in the back for pulling it off. ...Bitches.

Bitch, to be precise. The arrow was another of Iselsi Denasi's, the Venerer and commander of this strike force. The man had actually been arrogant enough to shoot him right in the same spot he'd hit him last time. This time, he really was going to kill that motherfucking Dragon-Blooded and be done with him.

Elated Fury's boots threw dust behind him. His arms pumped. He strained for every fraction of speed he was capable of. He was almost there.

The warehouse rose up ahead of him. In the corners of his eyes, he saw Dragon-Blooded trying to keep up. They wouldn't get him before he made the safety of the wooden structure, though. It would be close.

Then a murder of ravens flew by him, soaring ahead before descending in a flock of black feathers. As they landed, they changed until the whole mass of them had assembled into a white-haired Dragon-Blooded who froze the ground she stood on. What the hell was that!

Runes of vibrant blue energy began swarming around her. Sorcery, must be Sorcery, though he'd never personally witnessed magic on that kind of scale. Given he was the target, it couldn't be very nice Sorcery either. All the more reason to get the fuck out of the way.

Elated Fury raced the female Air-Aspect. Would she get her spell off before he made it to the warehouse? Another arrow caught him in the back but the pain only goaded him on. 50 yards, 30 yards...10. The blazing blue light flamed into a chilling frost as the Sorcerer finished her spell. But Elated Fury was already airborne.

The ground erupted as hundreds of vines tore the packed dirt apart to grope for him. If he'd been down there, it might have trapped him and it definitely would have slowed him enough for the Host of the Wyld Hunt to hit him with everything they had. The second floor wooden exterior fell toward him alarmingly but, all in all, Elated Fury preferred the wall over that spell.

He hit and felt the boards break from his strength and weight. Inside a second, he was rolling into the office as an arrow shot over his head to punch through the next wall. Elated Fury glanced grimly at the hole where the arrow had gone. Yeah, they weren't playing around at all.

The low rumble of dozens of boots running this way told him help was on the way...but he needed a few more seconds. Elated Fury's sharp eyes took in the room at once and he impulsively grabbed a heavy oak desk. Bracing himself, he shoved hard and was rewarded when the great wooden weight skidded across the rougher floor. His whole body flexed with one last effort.

An Immaculate Monk vaulted into the room...just as the table flew across the floor. He might have dodged it, if he hadn't still been in the process of landing. His feet brushed the dust of the old wooden floor when the great oak desk slammed into him, sending them both right out the hole and down toward the street.


	3. Chapter 3

**The 12th day of Resplendent Wood, 425 in the Year of Our Empress**.

Elated Fury grinned ferociously and pulled the door open. Dozens of mortals were just reaching the office when he burst out of it. He pushed right through them.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

The men hit the sides of the wall at once, and those running behind them got out of his way just as fast. It was sad. If these were his own men, he'd have cracked some heads. Of course, if these were his men, he wouldn't have come here, would he?

Elated Fury simply ran forward. As more passed into view, more ducked out of his way. How sloppy were these guys? That's when he realized he was shedding the silvery fog-like light again. Ah, fuck. It was frustrating, having so much power inside of him when only a fraction of it blew his cover and revealed him for what he was.

A good thing he didn't look much like himself right now.

"Either you are insane or you're the most insensibly courageous man I have ever known."

The Scripture of Crimson Silver glided beside him. Her black silks covered her head to toe, though Elated Fury was intimately familiar with the delicate lady that lay inside those protective cloths. Of course, he'd left her at the bar but this wasn't the first time she'd just...appeared where he was.

"Doubt it," Elated Fury grunted, pushing past another man. An explosion shook the warehouse from behind. When he listened for it, over the roar of his frantic flight in his ears, he could hear screaming and the sound of breaking swords. Oh yeah, the Wyld Hunt hadn't given up. "You've been around a lot longer than I have, Crimson. I'm sure you've seen better. I'm no hero, no Shikari going after a demon. Shit, I'm running, aren't I? You have a fucked definition of courage."

"That must mean you are insane," she retorted. She meant it but it didn't bother him. Elated Fury had made his peace with her nature a long time ago. "Insane or not, it is your cunning I admire. These men could kill you if they catch you, yet you manipulate them to accomplish your goals. Very few have the clarity of thought that would permit such exercise under persecution."

"Are we both talking Low Realm?" Elated Fury said, starting to gasp. A century ago, he'd outrun a team of Dragon-Blooded too, but the Hunt had lacked the grim certainty of destruction every single step of the way. He wasn't too tired yet but he couldn't keep this up forever. "I'm pretty sure you can't use words like that. Not and make any fucking sense." A door loomed up and he didn't stop to open it, instead shattering the obstacle into flying shards as he went right through it.

"Do not be an idiot," the Scripture said crossly.

They were running out across a catwalk overlooking a vast interior dock. This shipping and storage facility was big enough to accommodate small barges and, at the moment, it was full up with incoming traffic. Elated Fury knew it would be. That's why he'd led the Wyld Hunt here.

A stir of instinct and Elated Fury snapped his hand around, catching the arrow meant for his spine. The wood writhed in his hand and he grimaced in disgust at the Charm still trying to kill him. No, the fuckers really didn't play around.

They reached the far side of the catwalk and Elated Fury paused to assess the opposition, scratching his face. Four Dragon-Blooded had kept up so far, three of them Monks...and the front man was none other than the esteemed Venerer Iselsi Manotan Denasi himself. The man was a Fire-Aspect and showing it for the first time. Between him and the other Fire-Aspect Monk in the band, they were setting fire to the catwalk as they ran past it. This whole place would probably burn, thanks to the Wyld Hunt.

Elated Fury grinned slightly and gave the man the 'salute' of respect he deserved.

The Dragon-Blooded retailed by drawing back mightily on his red powerbow and letting fly a veritable rainfall of arrows. Elated Fury just laughed as he lunged through the door, rolling as wooden death volleyed over his head, then springing back to pull the stout portal closed. He lacked a key but his finger did the job, shifting to become as variable as a skeleton key. A quick twist and it was locked.

Not bad so far. They'd be through that door in under a minute but he'd bought himself a little time. Elated Fury glanced about the cluttered office room, with its stacks of shelves and books and records of all kind. Sloppy, he thought, just like the men were. Well, this would be fine. The secret door, and the only other way out, was exactly where his spies had told him it would be.

"What are you doing?" the Scripture of Crimson Silver said, her dimly seen eyes literally flashing in annoyance.

"I'm leaving a present, Scarlet," Elated Fury chuckled. His arrangement of books and shelving together, he glanced at his lover and companion for half a century. "You mind lighting that?"

"Of course not," she snapped. Pale white flame leaped across the desk at the Scripture's gesture, fire that quickly changed to a more natural yellow. "But there is at least one of them that will not be stopped by this."

"It's not going to stop any of them but it'll piss the fuckers off." Elated Fury grinned as his fingertips found the outline of the secret door, moving along until he found the catch and thumbed it open. The Scripture of Crimson Silver took his hand and they both ducked inside, huddling on a spiral staircase winding down past the first floor and into a basement. Elated Fury the tightly corded bag on his waist and used a moonsilver knife to open its bindings.

Splintering wood heralded an Immaculate fist that punched right through the iron-reinforced door. Yeah, they were almost through. Elated Fury opened the bag up all way, wound his arm back and threw it at the door just as the portal broke before the Dragon-Blooded Shikari.

Then, he shut the secret door, grabbed the Scripture, and he bound down the stairs as fast as he could. He lost his balance and hit his face directly against the wall when the large bag of Firedust caught the flame upstairs and exploded. He shook the stars swarming before his eyes away and glanced up at buckled panels in the ceiling.

At worst, he'd bought some time. With a little success, he'd knocked them right back out of the door and off the catwalk. At best, he might even have killed one but he kinda doubted that. Harriers didn't die that easily.

"Remind me why I put up with this behavior," the Scripture of Crimson Silver grumbled in his ear.

"Because you love my cock."

"Besides that." Elated Fury grinned at her candor and shook his head.

"Because I'm the most interesting man on this whole fucking Isle. Because you're bored and you have nothing better to do. But mostly, it's the cock."

"Luckily for you," she said, and a rare smile crossed her face behind the veils. Elated Fury had learned the subtleties of her expression beneath the silk and he only chuckled before pulling on her hand, urging them ever downward. The Wyld Hunt wasn't done and neither was he.

They hit the bottom of the stairwell in the form of a door that Elated Fury ripped clean from its hinges. Door in one hand, he stared down twenty armed men and women, each with a bow and arrow beside their sheathed swords. He grinned his trademarked smile at them, knowing that the silver light was the only reason they hadn't fired.

If you were a mortal, you did not fucking fire on an Anathema unless you knew you could kill him. Yeah, they didn't think they could either. That's right, bitches, put your fucking bows down.

"Where's Yaoinr?" he demanded gruffly.

The soldiers glanced at each other. He gave them a second to think it over before he growled like a wolf at them. Faces paled in fear and they chose discretion over valor.

"He's back in there, with a slave!"

"Thanks."

Elated Fury passed through the door, the Scripture of Crimson Silver at his side. He thought about warning the troops that a host of Dragon-Blooded killers were about to cut them to shreds. He shrugged off the idea. They were dead either way so they might as well enjoy the last minute of their life relatively free of fear. You know, until the Shikari showed up and gutted them all.

Another corridor came up short against a door. Two guards stood there, otherwise prepared to take out any would-be assassin, turncoat or even a hit squad given their plate-and-chain. One look at him and they threw their weapons and themselves down on the ground.

"That's fucking right!" Elated Fury snarled. Anger masked his disconcertion. He was a man of enterprise, a leader when necessary and supremely good at surviving anything Fate through at him. But he was not a monster, no matter what he'd said to that All-Seeing Eye agent. It bothered him to see such fear on people's faces and it bothered him that it bothered him. Fuck it.

"The door's trapped," the Scripture said.

"Well, fuck, I'm glad something is. I can't believe Yaoinr has this shit for defenses. I was hoping the Wyld Hunt would be slowed down but no, the little fucker's too cheap to spring for enough traps to slow them down."

Elated Fury glanced at the door. Needle trap on the doorknob, naturally. No, that wouldn't do a fucking thing against a Dragon-Blooded in armor. Let's see...there, connected to the hinge, a nice lever system that would drop someone in a pit and then drop part of the ceiling down on him. That wasn't bad at all!

Once again, his finger became the perfect skeleton key and he bypassed both traps with something as simple as a Charm. Too fucking easy. No wonder the Dragon-Blooded hated the Anathema. Jealous bitches.

The middle-aged patrician in tight-fitting robes turned around and did a double-take. His hair was cut in the same style that Elated Fury wore, his build was the same, they even looked alike right now thanks to judicious use of Shaping the Ideal Form. Elated Fury was pleased that he'd gotten close, given he'd only had a sketch to work with.

Yaoinr's eyes shone with intelligence and very little fear as he looked the Anathema in his bedroom up and down.

"You must be Elated Fury. Always thought I'd meet up with you sooner or later. Are you here to kill me, then? I didn't think you went in for doing the wet-work yourself."

"You'd be surprised at what I'm willing to do," Elated Fury said threateningly. "Where's the fucking slave?" He stepped inside, letting the Scripture of Crimson Silver pass by his side, before closing the door. That should re-arm the traps and, between them and the guards, he should have a minute. Maybe longer if they had to dig out the staircase from the flaming wreckage he'd made of that room.

"I finished with her a few minutes ago. Your timing is impeccable. ...So you really are Anathema. I always thought that was just talk." Yaoinr settled back into a chair and appraised the Lunar frankly. Elated Fury tossed his hat on the desk and kicked off his boots. "No wonder you got this far. You don't have enough manpower in Arjuf to hit this place but I suppose you don't need it, do you? So, how much?"

"How much?" Elated Fury asked quizzically as he stripped out of his breeches.

"You want the stranglehold I have on the black market in Arjuf. It's obvious, I've been expecting you to make a move on my operations sooner or later. I've got a lot more resources than even you can guess at, enough to compete, but you beat me to the punch so let's talk price. I'm very good at running my businesses and I turn a very nice profit...one I'm willing to turn over to you."

"That's mighty generous of you," Elated Fury remarked, laying his clothes across the table. "Scarlet, mind if you get the arrows for me?"

"Of course, lover." There was nothing of gentleness in her firm hands, nor in the way they mercilessly pulled the shafts out of his back, but neither was there cruelty. Elated Fury ground his teeth and bore it.

"Elated Fury...I know you're a powerful man," Yaoinr said, finally showing some nervousness. Elated Fury's inhumanly excellent senses picked out every tidbit of emotion and motivation, rendering the other crime lord's pretense futile. Not bad, though. The shit-head was faking his fear. He really thought he could buy his way out of this and he was willing to act in any way that would do the trick. What a complete cocksucker.

"I've had a good run but I can see I'm outmaneuvered," the other crime lord said. "You want my business? It's yours. Just let me stay on and run it. I've spent my whole life getting to this point, Elated Fury. Surely you of all men can respect what I've accomplished. I'll turn my profits to you, I'll run under your colors, shit, you can do whatever you want with my crew. But there's no sense in killing me and wasting all I know."

"That IS a generous offer," Elated Fury acknowledged, grunting as the last arrow came out. He pulled his shirt off, wincing at the soreness of his closing wounds, and finally undid his underclothes. He stood before his rival in Arjuf naked and flashed his famous grin. The patrician broke into a cold sweat.

"What do you want from me?" Yaoinr said, and his scent revealed his fear at what Elated Fury's nakedness implied. It was always about sex, wasn't it? Elated Fury shook his head at the fucking pervert and his disgusting assumptions.

"I don't want your operations, Yaoinr. You're a fucking slaver and I hate slavers. Worse, you use the bodies of slaves to smuggle in your most illegal products. Sometimes you kill them and their corpses pass right by inspection, don't they? And other times you don't, leaving them to die horribly as whatever you shove inside them through whatever orifice breaks down their body, leaving them too crippled to work. Makes them ripe for disposal, doesn't it? You motherfucking cocksucker."

"If you don't want my business, you must want my money. My connections!" Yaoinr was sweating freely now. "Anything you want!"

"Right now, I want you to shut the fuck up."

Elated Fury grabbed his rival's head and slammed it into the back of the patrician's chair. It wasn't enough to kill but it did a fine job of dazing him. Just what he needed.

"Scarlet, get his boots, will you?"

Inside a minute, they'd stripped the patrician down and inside of the next they had him dressed up as Elated Fury. The Lunar leaned back, appraised his work and nodded approvingly. Then, he carefully unbound the rare flask on his side, the very one he'd bought at such great price weeks ago and worn every day since.

If the Scripture of Crimson Silver asked him, he'd have admitted to his own nervousness that it wouldn't survive the arduous path getting here. But she wasn't the kind of girl to ask questions. That was fine by him, it was one of the reasons they got on so well.

Elated Fury slipped off the metal bands securing the cork and popped it out, taking care to pocket it. He couldn't afford to leave any other evidence behind. Unending the bottle, he poured it over the slaver crime lord, taking care to cover every inch of him. Once the flask was empty, he tied it back on his belt and nodded again in satisfaction.

The sounds of still more screaming and swords warned him he was running out of time. The Wyld Hunt was every bit as ruthless and relentless as he'd heard. There was

nothing like an enemy you could respect, was there? Not like this shitty waste of life lying in the chair.

"We are out of time," the Scripture echoed, looking to the door and the sounds still distant.

"We don't need much more, do we bitch? Hold him for me." Elated Fury picked up the arrows and got a hold on the man's back while his lover kept Yaoinr straight. The crime lord's clothes were already dry. That stuff really was as fast-acting as he'd heard. It'd better be, given how much it'd cost.

"There is a very good chance they will see through this deception," the Scripture warned, her precise voice as sharp as the swords killing people in the hallway. "You may succeed. You changed your face enough to pass for him if no one looks too closely...and your frantic flight insured that no one did. You've changed your clothes. But you cannot disguise the fact that your Anima has come to life...and that he lacks one."

"Wanna fucking bet? Keep him quiet and I'll show you."

Part 3:

The crime lord tried to scream when Elated Fury rammed the arrows into his back but the Scripture's hand blocked all sound. Yaoinr writhed in his seat, held down only by the Lunar and his lover, until the pain settled him down. He wouldn't be very mobile but he didn't need to be, either.

Elated Fury released him, looked the Scripture in the eyes, and smiled through the moon-like mist wafting from his skin. The silvery light brightened another notch as jagged claws sprouted from his fingertips. A sympathetic glow suddenly lit up across Yaoinr's body. It didn't look quite like a Lunar Anima but it wasn't too far away either. A little too pale white, not enough silver, but all in all a good likeness.

He gestured her over to the wall as he delicately used his claws to lift his moonsilver knives from the table and place them through the crime lord's belt loops.

"Tree-Dwelling Jaguar Claws," the Scripture smirked. "Do you plan on digging your way to the surface?"

"Where the fuck do you get those names from?" Elated Fury swore, shaking his head in irritation. He swept her up in one arm as the other found purchase on the wall. His fingers dug in, his toes found purchase, and he climbed straight up until he reached the ceiling. He avoided the corners, knowing they were the obvious spots for a search, and kept along one edge as his lover held herself against him, legs and arms wrapped tautly across his muscular body. "Do I look like a big cat?"

"Charms have names, lover. As do mysterious potions." The Scripture's veils and silks were still vertical on her. Elated Fury blinked as he noticed that. His stolen robes were tight but still hung away from him, following the direction of gravity. Hers...didn't.

"Oh, that? Just something I picked up three years ago when House Nellens got put on the books. Dragon-Blooded go fucking nuts when there's a party and there's nothing like the celebration of a new House." Elated Fury smiled to himself at the memory of that night. "They had alchemical wizards mix together all sorts of special effects for their party. Among other things, Nellens put on a fucking awesome show. Their best dancers were coated in this stuff."

"It's reactive to Essence?" she asked curiously. It was rare for her to ask anything so Elated Fury indulged her.

"Mostly. It flares up when someone uses Essence but it'll keep glowing if it's near an active Charm. Made for a really beautiful performance when the audience joined in. It's flammable but it should do the trick because of that. Yeah, I think they'll believe he's me. The cocksucker enough looks like me, glows like me...and I left my moonsilver knives with him."

"Because you believe you can get them back," she said, sounding certain.

"It'll be chancy and I won't want to tip the Wyld Hunt off to the fact that I'm still alive. But yeah, it's worth the risk. I'd rather be alive without them than dead with them. Besides, what kind of an Exalt actually leaves his weapons behind for the enemy to get? They're Dragon-Blooded. They'll believe it because of their own fucking pride."

A horrible scream from outside the door alerted Elated Fury that they had run out of time. "You'll see. I need you to do two things though. Shroud us, first. Then, you'll need to float."

"And I must bear your weight." She sighed in a long-suffering manner. "If it's necessary."

"It's necessary if we want to avoid their Charms. As long as we're touching the ground or anything it touches, they'll notice us. We'll be fine, Scarlet. Promise."

"You do not know the first thing about promises," the Scripture of Crimson Silver said with ire. Elated Fury gave her a wondering look at the sudden venom before they vanished beneath the concealing cloud of her Charms. He lay atop her, enjoying the soft feel of her body.

It sure beat the shit out of being in Yaoinr's boots.

The crime lord of Arjuf finally got enough of his senses together to stagger for the door. He was bleeding enough that he could die without medical attention and he apparently hadn't noticed the commotion outside. More was the pity for him.

The door exploded from the torrent of flame that burst through. In a smoothly coordinated fashion, Iselsi Denasi leaped sideways in as an Immaculate Monk rolled beneath him. Yaoinr flung himself backward, awkward with the arrows, and his body shone with a whitish Anima-like display.

Still flying through the air, a fearsome display of phoenixes and fire dragons setting the room aflame, Iselsi Denasi had spun upside down when he drew back his great red powerbow and shot the crime lord squarely through the heart.


	4. Chapter 4

**The 12th day of Resplendent Wood, 425 in the Year of Our Empress**.

The patrician folded over with hardly a cry, dropping the moonsilver knives with a clatter. Iselsi Denasi completed the revolution of his body, landing against the opposite wall with his jade boots before kicking off to land nimbly on his feet. The combined Animas of two Fire-Aspects were rapidly turning this place into a fucking inferno but Elated Fury held on through the smoke and sweat. He had to.

"That's it?" Iselsi Denasi said warily. He looked unconvinced as he stared at the brightly burning corpse of the crime lord and slaver, innocent only of being an Anathema. The oil caught fire at once but so had everything else in the room and the glow had died with the flame. The other two Monks moved in to flank their commander, then drew back as the flames leapt higher.

"Venerer, our Animas have compromised this structure. It's not safe to remain. The Anathema is down and his organization annihilated. There's nothing left to do here." The Fire-Aspect was somber, even respectful as he nodded toward Elated Fury's would-be corpse.

"True enough," Iselsi Denasi said, still looking at the burning body. He bent and retrieved the two moonsilver knives. "Move along. I wish to satisfy myself of any last doubt."

"Venerer, he's dead," said one of the others. "His Anima is extinguished."

"I have no fear of fire, Shikari!" the Iselsi said, showing a bit of temper. "Go on. Wrap up matters upstairs. It's a long trip back to the Azimuth Spire, though I can't say I'm looking forward to seeing Yarrowstalk again. Provincial town." He shook his head and looked directly at the Fire-Aspect. "Amercer, you have your orders."

"Of course, Venerer." Despite Denasi's martial attitude, the Monk did not look particularly military as he motioned the other two out. "Don't be too long. A few of the barges have already tried to flee."

"Well, you won't let that happen, will you, Amercer?" Iselsi Denasi grinned suddenly. "The slaves can go but do not leave a single member of his band alive. It's not as if we need prisoners now and I would rather not have compromised mortals wandering the Blessed Isle. Who knows where Elated Fury's Exaltation might settle next."

The Monks left and Elated Fury watched, doing his best to ignore the flames that licked his stomach, his feet. The raw Essence flowing through his blood and bones could not be conquered by mere fire...but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like fuck. Pain was a distraction and, right now, he couldn't afford it. Not when he saw a chance to settle things.

"Elated Fury." Iselsi Denasi crouched down over the body. "You don't look like I remember...but the Silver Anathema were always good at changing their faces. I remember our first hunt together. Heh, you were the best education my men received at the House of Bells. Competition is one thing but being outmatched by a mortal humbled them. When you turned into an Anathema...that gave them resolve."

"Thanks, Elated Fury. Though your tainted, infectious grasp has spread evil throughout the Blessed Isle, some good has come of you. More, now that you're dead." He spit on the body. The moisture sizzled against the charred flesh. "I don't fear your soul coming after me, you animal. You killed my son. Burn in hell for I'm certain the Yozi's have a special place, just for you."

Elated Fury's arms tensed and he swung around to hang beneath the floating woman, maneuvering to get his feet near the wall.

_You are an arrogant fool if you do this_ Even in his mind, her voice hissed like steel from a sheath. _You have engineered the perfect escape. You have eluded the Wyld Hunt, destroyed a rival and faked your own death all in one stroke. Do not compromise your genius with bloodlust_.

_A man does what he needs to._ Elated Fury thought, knowing she would hear him. _I need to do this, Scarlet. You're still hidden, you're safe. Only thing I have to risk is myself, just like ever. But some things have to be settled or they never stay settled_.

_You stupid Lunar_! she growled in his thoughts, though of course he couldn't see the facial expression that accompanied the mental sound. _A full moon rises tonight and all you can think about is glory! Why do I waste my time on you_?

_Because_... Elated Fury stopped at once, unwilling to voice the one truth he knew she would never bear to hear. The Scripture of Crimson Silver, strange as she was, was still something that felt things and those feelings translated into scents. It had taken him a few years to puzzle them out but now he could read her like an open book...which he never did because of how jealous she was of her privacy.

The woman whose power and nature mystified him...loved him. It was a peculiar love, one that, from the beginning, had woven into it a hopeless despair at ever truly claiming his heart. She knew he did not. He knew she did. But the polite fiction maintained by silence was all that made the discrepancy bearable.

_Because you haven't seen a fight like this one's going to be in a fucking century_! he finished, filling his mind with savage images and bloodlust.

With a surge of muscle, Elated Fury kicked off the edge of the wall he was against. He soared over the flaming room, ignoring the way the wood was beginning to crumble. This whole place could come down on top of them. But right now, he didn't give a shit. All he cared about was coming down on top of the Iselsi archer.

The Wyld Hunter reacted with admirable ability, thanks to a Charm. He spun, nocked an arrow and fired. Elated Fury took the shaft through the shoulder and slammed into the Dragon-Blood anyway. Using the momentum, Elated Fury grabbed Denasi's hair and used the full force of their combined impact against the wall to ram his face in. The Venerer's head went right through the weakened wood with a satisfying sound.

He could have tried to beat the man through his jade armor but first he had to establish priorities. Elated Fury yanked the Dragon-Blooded out of the wall and Iselsi Denasi cracked his jade powerbow right across Elated Fury's face in retaliation. Blinking through the pain, Elated Fury's fist shot forward and crumpled the Dragon-Blooded Harrier's mouth.

"I'm not a fucking animal," Elated Fury spoke up, backing up to give both of them fighting room. His boots had caught on fire but he was beyond that. He looked at the man who'd shot him in the back a hundred years ago, who'd tried twice more and who'd tried again today. Yeah, he wanted a piece of him.

No, fuck the piece, he wanted the whole meal.

The Venerer tried to mumble something and Elated Fury grinned ferally at his opponent. A bar of jade that he was trying to call his friends back here. Life's a fucking bitch when you can't even mouth words though, isn't it?

In a split second, the Iselsi went for another arrow, snapping it out of his quiver and launching it with inhuman speed. Elated Fury was far more than human, though, and he crossed the distance between them faster than the arrow. He caught the steel head between two fingers. Then his other hand flashed up, trying to jab past the powerbow that spun in a defensive arc. Fast as he could attack, Denasi was blocking, twisting the bow every which way to not only foil every strike but to keep him from getting a good grip on the weapon.

Again the powerbow bashed him, right across the nose, and Elated Fury beat his anger down. He needed to be fighting intelligently, putting his enemy down instead of lashing out like a beast at the source of an old injury. Elated Fury glimpsed his two moonsilver knives in the Dragon-Blooded's belt and got an idea.

He flipped backward, landing on the floorboard section of the bed. The fire hurt but he'd worry about the pain later. He had too much to do.

Just as he hoped, Iselsi Denasi took advantage of the space to go for another arrow. Elated Fury waited until he lifted the powerbow for his shot...and then stretched his arm out, three times further than he was tall. The arrow released just as his hand caught the knives, thankfully exposed due to the positioning of the bow. His arm snapped back to it's normal length and his other hand snatched the arrow in mid-air.

The Fire-Aspected Dragon-Blooded yelled his frustration through the ruined remains of his jaw. Elated Fury didn't question his preternaturally excellent skill at catching arrows, or knives for that matter. He only thanked Luna for it because otherwise he'd be dead a dozen times over by now.

Elated Fury's fingers flexed around his knife hilts, feeling the cool moonsilver like chilled wine against his scorched flesh. Denasi tossed his powerbow aside and drew a magnificent steel sword from his back. It wasn't jade but it was obviously ensorcelled at great cost and effort. Personal commission? More likely a trophy from a fallen Anathema.

Their eyes met...

Bursting from the floor like an explosion of firedust, the Iselsi shot across the room and up. Flipping upside down, his feet caught the ceiling and launched him straight down toward Elated Fury. The Lunar let him come and then unleashed his Crouching Tiger Stance.

The steel sword's impact hit Elated Fury so hard that the end of the bed he stood on snapped in half, driving him down through the burning remains until his feet hit the floor. But the moonsilver knife held against the enchanted blade...and then his other punctured the Dragon-Blooded's jade mail, right through the side. Elated Fury's silvery Anima shone like the moon in a firestorm and he stepped back again to appraise his adversary.

Denasi's sword came up, saluting him for the wicked strike, and then he came on again like a wildfire. His Anima's fire pulsed and the weapon blurred with impossible speed. Elated Fury knew he didn't want to be in the way of that Charm so he did the logical thing; he used Wind-Dancing Method to soar all the way across the room with a single backwards bound. The Dragon-Blooded's sword tore through the air in a volley of futile blows, the last carving through the floor to vent his aggravation.

Iselsi Denasi, his jaw broken, said nothing in complaint but the heat of his glare communicated across the fiery inferno of the room.

"Yeah, I know. Let's just get this over with." Elated Fury brought his knives up in a fighting stance. "Be a good little Dragon-Blooded and don't stick around to bother me afterwards, alright? I hate spirits."

That said, Elated Fury leaped back across the room. He spun as he came and his knives sparked off sword and stone armor as he pressed a vigorous attack on the Shikari. Each blow staggered the Fire-Aspect a little more and his Anima roared louder than the fire as it took Essence to keep his sword between him and Elated Fury.

With the last blow, Denasi suddenly counterattacked and drove his sword right between Elated Fury's blades. The Lunar took the weapon straight in the stomach. Elated Fury ground his teeth at the flash of agony so much greater than the fire still burning at his legs.

Then, his moonsilver knives pulsed with a faint purple and blue color. With a wrench of excruciating effort, Elated Fury shoved himself up the Dragon-Blooded's blade, forcing the point out through his back. Iselsi Denasi roared with incoherent fury as specks of brilliant silver and red light shot through the Lunar's Anima like a frantically shaken Dynastic snow globe.

Elated Fury crossed his arms, then scythed both of his silver blades across Denasi's throat. The Lunar's blackened skin cracked above the surge of muscle...and then a fountain of blood burbled out of his enemy's neck in all directions. The Fire-Aspected Archer got a very strange expression on his face just before his head rolled off his shoulders.

His own shoulders heaving, Elated Fury stood triumphant over the body of the Wyld Hunt's Venerer. If only he had a way of stripping the body down, that was a fortune in red jade! But some risks weren't worth taking and he'd run out of time. Even now, the black of the fire crept higher across his legs. Essence continually renewed his skin as fast as it burned but the long run and the finishing fight had exhausted him. He was beginning to lose this last battle against the fire itself.

"Scarlet! Time to go."

"I will be with you when you have left this place." The Scripture of Crimson Silver stood with her hands folded before her. His lover's silks weren't even stirring despite the draft caused by the flames. To look at her, there wasn't a fire at all.

"Whatever. Take a look and see if Denasi's got any valuable trinkets while you wait?"

"You slew him in fair combat. His possessions are yours if you want them." She didn't sound like she cared either way...nor did it sound like she'd agreed to do what he asked. Elated Fury bared his teeth and decided he couldn't ignore the searing pain any longer.

"I'll settle for the sword for now. I'll see you later."

Elated Fury snatched up the enchanted blade and turned to the open space where the door used to be and jumped through to avoid the pit below. The whole place was up in flames and wreckage was beginning to drop down from the ceiling. Yeah, this operation was annihilated, like the Monk had said.

Good. So was all the evidence.

Heat pressed him on all sides but he didn't let himself get sloppy. Thankful that the glow of the flames would obscure the blaze of moonlight surrounding him, Elated Fury reached the entry room to this floor and crept to the stairwell. Closing his eyes, he opened his ears as far as he could, feeling them shift and change as his Essence magnified them.

Yes, there were two Immaculates up there at the top, just outside whatever was left of the office. They had to back off eventually but they clearly weren't bothered by the flames and intended to stick it out until their Venerer came out. Fuck.

Elated Fury closed his eyes, took his bearings and found the Imperial Mountain. The Charm had come in handy in his early years, when he'd traveled a great deal. But he'd discovered over time that he could refine his sense, judge not only where he was relative to the Mountain but where he was relative to his surroundings. He didn't know quite how he did it but right now it was going to save his life.

Yes, this underground section of the warehouse ran parallel to the waterfront. All along here, there were wooden walls but beyond lay the ocean and safety. Elated Fury opened his eyes and knew what he had to do.

He sprinted back through the fiery hall, hissed when the skin on his right foot cracked and began to bleed. Essence could only do so much. But it didn't need to do much more.

Elated Fury took a different turn before reaching the crime lord's door, moved down one hall, then another. The fire had spread everywhere and was burning even more hotly here because the fuel was fresher...but it was also further away from the stairwell. If the Dragon-Blooded came down here to investigate, chances are they'd never make it this far.

Of course, the body of their Venerer might be a different matter.

He turned around, went back to the room and found it empty of the Scripture, though Iselsi Denasi's body was burning away merrily now. The fucker was getting a right cremation, just like the Dragon-Blooded preferred. Looking up and around, Elated Fury saw the gaps in the ceiling where wood had started to fall in. Perfect.

Again, claws sprouted from his fingertips. This time, he didn't use them to climb...but instead to rip. Great sections of the ceiling fell away and then Elated Fury had to dive out of the room to avoid getting buried when the whole thing came down. That should do for handling the body.

Rolling through the fire, Elated Fury was back on his feet and running again, leaving bloody footprints behind. In a minute, he'd reached the far end of this underground complex in the form of a large storage room. The smell of the smoke in here suggested that drugs had been stashed in this place. He shook his head at the financial loss and turned his attention to the wall.

With his climbing claws, he tore away the wooden planking and started prying apart the stones beneath. If they'd built this place right, this would have been a lot harder but Yaoinr had evidently settled for packing the rock instead of cementing it. Cool dirt came after it, bringing a blissful sensation to Elated Fury's feet where it fell across them in a great pile.

His arms burned but he dug and dug, forcing his way through the increasingly sticky dirt. This would be so much easier if he could just become a ground squirrel or something but such shapechanging was impossible while the silver light shone from his body. He could still become a wolf but he was making better time as a man right now.

Minutes later, he tore through a thick barrier of mud and rock and bore the weight of the ocean as it broke through. A last expenditure of Essence grew gills and he just endured while the water tried to dislodge him. After yet more minutes, the heavy current slackened and he was able to swim his way out.

Out. He was out and he'd won. In a single day, he'd ditched the Wyld Hunt, killed a bastard of a rival in Arjuf, eliminated a Dragon-Blooded who'd wanted him dead for a century, and poised himself to take over the network Yaoinr had built. All he'd had to do was run. Mostly.

The Scripture of Crimson Silver stood on the bottom of the ocean bed, her clothes undisturbed by the ceaseless tides, and her arms were held out to embrace him. He swam to her and hardly winced when she suddenly clung to him. His wounds would heal and he was very experienced with how the Scripture worked. However doubtful or concerned she might be, she loved victory and she rewarded it well. Very well, as her silks parted to reveal the woman beneath, the prize to the winner.

Elated Fury took her with as much passion as he'd approached everything today. He took her with all he had.


End file.
